Tag: all year

A colourful theme park for young kids (designed mainly for 2-8 years old) with lots of activities; tubing (three options), treehouses, inflatables, train ride, slides and houses with different stations. This park is open mainly during the summer and is open briefly during the winter (until Jan 6th, 2019!). Super friendly staff dressed as elves will keep you entertained in each station.

This all-year trail is a super fun walk, about 1.9km return, part of the Parcs Regionaux MRC Matawinie. It is not suitable for very small kids as the trail during wintertime can be very slippery. There are about 90 stairs to reach the small waterfall. During our visit, it was mostly frozen and impressive to watch from close proximity. The trail is well maintained and has clear indications. Interpretive signs along the trail will explain the wood logging history of this region.

Maison Saint-Gabriel is a national historic site located in Montreal (Pointe Saint-Charles). This museum will take you back in time to show you how the new settlers of New France lived in the mid 17th century. The place was founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys who bought the land in 1668 to support agricultural and educational activities of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. We spent a few hours at this wonderful site. I highly recommend a visit, it is an ideal place for rainy/snowy days.

Located in the Eastern Townships nearby Granby, this national park is wonderful for families. Surrounded by hills, the man-made Choiniere Reservoir is ideal for family hiking, water activities and biking. On a sunny day, we decided to combine a short hike and enjoy the park with its activities for kids.

Abbey Saint Benoit images have been featured in many regional touristic books. This magical historic landmark is a major attraction. Located in the Eastern Townships, the abbey is surrounded by mountains (Owl’s Head) and nearby the lake of Memphremagog. We also visited a soap factory nearby. Just a perfect day!

If you are looking for a beautiful viewpoint of the Lanaudiere region, this is the place to visit. The trail is about 2 km return – 900 meters to the viewpoint, mostly uphill (elevation gain of about 120 meters).

Located in Granby, on the shores of Lake Boivin, this easy trail is suitable for young families all year long. The long wooden deck along the swamps is offering nice views of the surrounding area. Enjoy bird watching and educative information at the centre which offers temporary exhibitions. Lovely way to spend half a day in nature.

This zoo located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal is a good place to go for half a day, all year round. At the zoo you will find species from North America like prey birds, wolves, foxes, lynx, caribou and many more. This is not a regular zoo, it is a wildlife sanctuary where most of the animals are orphans, rehabilitated or born within the zoo enclosure.

Mont Saint-Hilaire is located east of Montreal with an elevation of 414 meters. The area is known for its apple orchards thanks to the soil which is ideal for the growth of apple trees. The most touristic activity in the area includes apple picking! We visited an apple orchard and a nearby alpaca farm during a rainy winter Sunday afternoon and it was just wonderful.

How can I describe our day experience at Omega Parc? Way beyond expectations! This 15km drive-through adventure is like a safari expedition to discover the wildlife of Canada. The park has more than 15 species of animals (like deers, elks, wolves, foxes, bisons, turkeys, boars and many more) from different habitats: meadow, forest, mountain, lake and boreal region. You can actually make contact with (most) of the animals by feeding them with carrots (only) when you drive along the path.

Jay Peak is a resort which offers lodging, ski and this great indoor waterpark. Located in Jay, Vermont nearby the border with Quebec, only 1h50 from Montreal, you can spend a full day here. You don’t have to be a guest in the hotel to access the waterpark as it also offers a pay as you go option.

We decided to give a visit to Quebec Aquarium once we were in the area of Quebec City, during a huge snow storm. We enjoyed the visit very much and so did our kids! The Aquarium exhibits fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and sea mammals.

As a big astronomy fan, I was just waiting to visit Mont Megantic as it is known for its astronomy research, observatory and for the AstroLab museum for families. Megantic and St -Joseph mountains are about 1000 meters high. There is no cable car to go up the mountain and in order to reach the observation area, you will need to climb up the mountain during winter time as the road was not open when we visited in December.

Mid-December, we were looking for a ski resort to teach the kids how to ski or a place to do snow shoeing but there was not enough snow even though most resorts were open. We called Mont-Orford centre and they recommended this trail for families with young kids. This is part of a cross-country ski trail which was open for hiking as the season did not start yet. The signs along the way indicate that this path is only for cross-county skiers but we assume it is open all year long.

Located only 23km East of downtown Montreal, this National Park is an easy escape for nature and bird lovers at the city’s doorstep. In this post, we visited two short trails at the national park – Sentier Saint-Gabriel and Sentier Petit-Duc. The second walk, Sentir Petit Duc is suitable for snowshoeing. We have hiked it without the equipment this time as there was not enough snow to snowshoeing.

Love trains? This is the place for you! The perfect place for kids, you can definitely spend all day here! Rainy, or snowy days? Here we go. The big closed train hangar has a permanent exhibition where you can discover the evolution of the Canadian rail transportation from the early years to modern time.

On a summer rainy day, we decided to go out although the non-stop showers. We found this nice farm online. This is a family farm with about 29 different animal species and about 1000 animals. The farm has group visits usually twice a day. Call before you go to make sure there are tours on the day of your visit and to confirm the exact time of the group visit.